Soap18

In Love and War

School Yard:

April, Diana, Honey and Trixie were sitting on the grass after school on Friday, talking about everything and nothing. They didn't see Erin, who was about ten feet away.

Finally, Mart and Dan came up and said they were ready to leave. April declined a ride, stating that it was too nice out not to walk. Erin smiled when she heard that.

As the Bob-Whites left for their car, April started walking in the other direction. Erin quickly caught up with April as soon as the Bob-Whites were out of sight. April stiffened when she saw who had started walking with her.

"You're April, right? I'm Erin." Erin held her hand out to April.

April shook Erin's hand out of politeness. "I know who you are."

Erin sighed. "You're one of the blond girl's friends, right?"

April nodded. "You mean Trixie. It really wasn't nice of you to go after her boyfriend."

Erin nodded. "I know, but I didn't know that he was her boyfriend at the time. How could I? Besides, when I stopped by their lunch table to apologize to her, they brought it back up. I was just trying to apologize, and maybe make friends with them."

April's heart went out to Erin. "I'm sure it will be okay," she said sympathetically. "It's just...why did you threaten to go after Mart, too?"

Erin shrugged. "They just made me mad. You weren't there, so you didn't hear the things they said to me. I'm not a whore out to steal everyone's boyfriends. I change schools about three times a year. I know I come off as snobby, but it's only because I try not to make real friends. Less people to miss that way," she finished quietly.

April couldn't say anything. She just put her arm around Erin.

Crabapple Farm:

After Mart had dropped everyone off at home, he and Trixie pulled into the Belden driveway. Mrs. Belden was waiting on the porch.

"Hi, Moms," they called as they started to enter the house.

"Wait," Mrs. Belden almost commanded. Both teen-aged Beldens stopped in their tracks. "Mart, go on into the kitchen. There are freshly baked cookies on the table. Trixie, come with me. We need to talk."

Once settled in the living room, Trixie looked at her mother. "What's up, Moms?"

Mrs. Belden looked into Trixie's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Trixie wrinkled her forehead. "Um, why didn't I tell you what?" She finally asked.

Mrs. Belden suddenly hugged Trixie. "I love you no matter what. You know that, right?"

"Um, sure, Moms. But what are you talking about?"

"Trixie, this is your last chance to come clean."

Trixie just silently looked at her mother.

This made Mrs. Belden very angry. "Well, since you won't tell me yourself, consider yourself grounded. Indefinitely."

Trixie's mouth dropped open. "Moms, why? I haven't done anything!"

"Beatrix Belden! Don't you remember last weekend when Dan spent the night with Mart?"

"Yeah. We were all watching movies and fell asleep. I thought you said it wasn't a big deal."

"That was before I got a phone call. Just whom did you tell that you were pregnant? She is a good friend to you, because she was worried enough about you to tell me."

Trixie thought back to the weekend before. Mart had rented some movies for them to watch. It took some fast-talking to get Mr. and Mrs. Belden to agree to let Trixie stay up and watch with the guys. The parents had only given in because Mart was included in the plan. She, Mart, and Dan had watched two movies and they were on the third when she fell asleep. She had assumed Mart and Dan had fallen asleep around the same time as well.

"Moms, Mart was there too. I'm sure he would have stopped anything, not that there was anything to stop."

Mrs. Belden sternly looked at her daughter. "Mart was in his bed when I woke up to come downstairs. You were in Dan's arms. This leads me to think there has been a lot more going on than you've been telling me. If you're comfortable to do that at home, under your father's and my noses, it had to have been going on for a while. Now get to your room and not another word."

"Mom, I'm not pregnant. I haven't done anything to get pregnant."

"Then this whole thing will be straightened out. But until then, you will not see Dan outside of school, nor talk to him. I will not tell your father since you have denied it, but I will not keep quiet long."

Trixie stomped up to her room and slammed the door.

The next day at school:

The next day at lunch, Trixie talked to Honey and Diana about everything trivial and nothing about her mother. After Dan and Mart sat down, Trixie looked around. "Where's April?" she asked.

She looked around again and finally spotted April. She opened her mouth to call her, but froze. April was sitting with Erin.

Honey looked up from her conversation with Diana in time to see Trixie's confused expression. "What's wrong, Trixie?"

"April's sitting with Erin," Trixie answered.

"I'm sure it's okay," Honey said. "Just because we don't like someone doesn't mean April can't."

Diana eyed Trixie warily. "She's right, Trix."

Trixie sighed. "I know, but it still feels wrong somehow."

That afternoon, Trixie saw April after the bell rang to end classes.

"April!" she called.

April stopped and turned. "Oh, hi, Trixie! How are you?"

"I'm fine," Trixie answered. Then she hesitated, not sure how to ask her question. She thought direct was the best way. "April, I was wondering how you've been. You didn't sit with us at lunch."

April laughed thinly, hoping Trixie wasn't mad. "I know. I sat with Erin. I think she needs a friend here, and she's really nice when you get to know her."

Trixie's eyes narrowed. "Erin is nice?"

April nodded. "She moves around a lot, so she doesn't have many friends. At her last few schools, she was picked on and made to feel like an outsider. That's why she was mean to you. She hurt you before you could hurt her."

Trixie was confused. "Why would I hurt her? Especially since I don't know her!"

April sighed. "I know that, and I've told her. She just has this idea that you would because you, Honey, and Diana seem to have everything good and nothing bad."

Trixie rolled her eyes. "No one has everything good and nothing bad in their lives. That girl needs to wake up and grow up. And she needs to do it fast. I just don't understand why she needs you to hold her hand."

April stiffened. "Maybe if you really feel that way, and you're upset because I'm being nice to someone new, which no one else has made an effort to do, then I think you need to grow up too. And fast," she mimicked.

Trixie was too stunned to move as April stalked away.

Lynch Estate:

Later that afternoon, Diana was in her room pretending to do her homework. She was thinking about the fight she'd had with her parents when she got home from school. She jumped as her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hi, Diana," Mart said.

"I can't talk to you anymore," she said in a flat tone.

"Why?"

"My mom heard that Trixie's pregnant. I'm not allowed to see her or you, or even talk to you."

"How can you not see us? We all go to the same school."

"Not anymore," Diana told him. "My parents are using the tutor we used when we were stuck at Manor House that week. I really have to go. If I get caught, I might have to go to a private school."

She hung up the phone, leaving Mart open-mouthed on the other end.

Crabapple Farm:

Mart stood with the phone at his ear for a full minute before Diana's words finally made sense to him. In a rage, he turned off the phone and hurled it across the room. He knew that he'd have to replace it if it broke, but he didn't care. He stalked out of his room and barged into Trixie's without knocking.

She looked up, startled. "Mart! What are you doing?"

Mart stopped pacing and looked at her. "I trusted you and Dan. And what do I get? Absolutely nothing! In fact, I lose everything! Not only can I not talk to Diana, but I can't even see her at school!" He was so upset that he grabbed Trixie's arm and hauled her up to a standing position. "What do you have to say about that?"

"All I have to say," Trixie shot back, "is that I have no idea what you're talking about! Diana was fine in school. And I have no idea what Dan has to do with anything."

"You and Dan. You're pregnant. You and Dan are the reason Diana can't talk to me. You two are the reason she's being home-schooled."

Trixie's voice, when she could talk, was a bare whisper. "I am not pregnant. Get out of my room."

As soon as the door slammed behind him, Trixie turned back to her homework. She found she couldn't concentrate. She just sat and fumed. Because she was grounded, she couldn't call Honey, as she normally would have. All she could do was wait to prove she wasn't pregnant.

The next morning, the ride to school was quiet. Mart and Trixie weren't talking to each other. Dan was quiet, trying to figure out what was going on. Honey tried to ask Trixie what was wrong, but lapsed into silence when Mart passed Diana's driveway without even slowing the car.

After the bell rang ending homeroom, Erin cornered Trixie in the back of the room.

"Well, how have you been? I've heard you might be feeling sick."

Trixie narrowed her eyes. "You're the one who started this whole thing. You even called my mother."

Erin smiled and buffed her manicured nails on her shirt. "Yeah. I did a good job, didn't I? I warned you that I'd make you miserable. Bonus, your friends are too."

Trixie was trying to think of something fitting to say, but Erin turned and sauntered out of the room.

School:

As Trixie was walking alone toward the lunchroom, Dan caught up with her.

"Trix, we need to talk. You need to tell me why you're so upset."

"I'm not allowed to see you for a while."

Dan's eyebrows flew up with surprise. "Why?"

Trixie laughed bitterly. "Moms thinks I'm pregnant. By you," she clarified when Dan's eyes glazed over a bit.

"But that's not possible," Dan stammered. "How can she think that? Is that why Mart's been giving me hateful looks?"

Trixie sighed. "Moms got a phone call, 'confiding' that I was and was keeping it a secret. Mart hates us both because Diana's parents heard about it and won't let him see her. At all. They're home schooling her. Mart believes I'm pregnant, too," she finished quietly.

"Then I guess we'll just have to prove it. How long will that take?"

Trixie laughed as Dan's face got redder and redder. "By tomorrow," she whispered to put him out of his misery.

Dan cleared his throat. "Let's go to lunch."

When they got to the lunchroom, they found Honey sitting alone. Mart was nowhere to be found.

"What is going on, Trixie? You and Mart aren't speaking, Diana's not even here, and no one was sitting here with me."

Trixie explained everything to Honey.

"Why would Erin do such a thing? And why is April sitting with her if she did?"

Dan took up the story then. "Erin wanted to get even with you girls. We figure she conned April, and called Mrs. Belden. Diana's parents somehow heard, and now even Mart believes the rumor."

"Why should Mrs. Belden believe her?"

Trixie snapped her fingers. "She must have thought it was you or Diana calling."

Honey shook her head. "Well, how can you prove to your mom that you're not?"

Trixie grimaced. "Right now. I need to go to my locker. Now." She hurried away, muttering about bad timing and being jinxed.

Honey couldn't help but laugh as she saw Dan blush.

After quick stops at her locker and the bathroom, Trixie raced to the phone to call her mom. "Moms," she said as soon as her mother answered the phone. "I have proof that I was telling the truth."

"I'm so sorry I didn't believe you. I'm glad it turned out this way. We still need to have a talk when you get home. Now, go tell the office that I'm coming to get you."

Belden car:

"I wish you had believed me, but I guess I understand why you didn't. Don't expect me not to be upset about it, though."

"I understand, Trixie."

Crabapple Farm:

Mrs. Belden and Trixie talked for an hour.

"I believe you're not having sex yet, Trixie. But please promise that you'll talk to me if you're ever having those feelings."

"Okay, Moms," Trixie promised, thinking that there was nothing more embarrassing to think about than that.

"Now, I left a message with your brother to bring everyone here after school. I owe Dan an apology, too."

Trixie jumped up. "No, you don't have to do that. There is something you could do, though."

"What's that, Trixie?"

"Could you please call the Lynches to tell them I'm not, and the Wheelers?"

"Yes, I can do that, but why? I never told them anything."

"Someone did," she informed her mother, as her thoughts went immediately to Erin.

Mrs. Belden went to the phone and dialed. "Catherine? It's Helen. Trixie told me you won't let Diana see Mart or Trixie because of a rumor?"

Mrs. Lynch was embarrassed and felt her face turning red. "You never can be too careful. I know Diana isn't the most secure girl."

"I understand," Mrs. Belden said warmly. "Even I wondered if it was true for a bit. How about letting Diana come over for dinner?"

Author's Notes: Thanks to RH for not suing when I use their characters. Thanks to Andrea and El for editing. Thanks to April for her character. A big huge thanks to Chelsea for helping me figure things out months ago. Thanks to Lindsay for her encouragement. And thanks to Teresa for going over this as soon as I got it up!